Sammy’s favorite part of painting her abstract artwork is signing her name. She does not ever tell what it is that she is paitning. I just have to interpret and figure it out. It is actually one of my favorite things to do too, because it is like having hundreds of conversations with her as I look inside her artwork. Yes, I am the one who ends up naming her artwork, because Sammy does not speak very much. But somehow, I know what she means and for a moment I get to see the world through her mind. Sammy's technique is very unique. It goes something like this, she chooses her color palette and her brushes, she places her base colors, she layers it a lot, she paints the sides of the canvas, flip it to a different angle, and sometimes she might repeat the same process over and over again until she is happy with the results. All her paintings are a one-of-a-kind which have a unique look based on the angle and lighting conditions. Photos cannot make it justice. The originals are not for sale until Sammy is able to consent what to do with her artwork.

Sammy’s discovered her love for cameras when she intertied my old iPhone, ever since we’ve been practicing with better cameras, but Sammy being Sammy – she likes what she likes. And what she likes is to snap images that are visually interesting from her point of view. She also enjoys playing with the camera and filing funny videos of herself. I’ve realized it that what she likes to do is to document her life and her memories. When she turns an image to black and white is because she want to remember that memory. She will revisit them over and over again and I’ve realized it makes her happy. Well be posting more images and videos of her in our social media platforms. All the images Sammy captured are her property and we have system to ensure the credit goes to her. Afterall that is one of the reasons why Half Life Crisis was created in the first place. The hardest part is going through all her images, she literally has captured thousands of images and short videos, and she loves watching them all. I for one love seeing the inspiring images she captures.

From an early age Sammy loved music. Sammy’s mom and dad are both musicians. Although Sammy only signs occasionally she does have perfect pitch. Because Sammy has a non-verbal form of autism, me as her dad used music as therapy to train her vocal cords and give her the confidence that she needed to express herself verbally. It helped a lot. Sammy is not the type of kid who will talk your ear off, she mostly listens and gazes with deep attention. Recently Sammy found an interest for the drums, and she likes when I plan along with her to help her as she gets to understand how the different instruments interact. Maybe one day Sammy will add music to her repertoire of artistic expression, but in the meantime, I am just so happy she has inherited our love for music. We’ve tried to get her to play different musical instruments. That will take some patience, and I am not about to force her because music and art are about inspiration, and the instruments will be patiently waiting until she is ready. All my musical instruments are hers too... of course.